News Product Resource Library

Learn how to align business, technology, audience and editorial needs in media with over 200 free resources curated by our community of experts.

The Resource Library was developed in partnership with the Google News Initiative, as part of our shared goal of empowering news product professionals and developing news product talent to create ethical and sustainable digital media businesses around the world.

Resources

Running Impactful Community Surveys

A guide on planning and implementing surveys successfully to inform your editorial or product strategy.

Carla Nudel

11/21/2023

View

Running Impactful Community Surveys

A guide on planning and implementing surveys successfully to inform your editorial or product strategy.

Share this

Share in your social media

AI Adoption for Newsrooms: A 10-Step Guide

AI tools can alert journalists to breaking news, help them analyze and draw insights from large datasets, and even write and produce the news. At the same time, the risks associated with using AI tools are significant and varied. From potentially spreading misinformation to making biased statements, the cost — both literally and figuratively — of misusing AI in journalism can be high. Partnership on AI (PAI), as part of the Knight Foundation’s AI and Local News Initiative, has been working with organizations and individuals from the technology and news industries, civil society, and academia to explore how journalists can ethically adopt AI. AI Adoption for Newsrooms: A 10-Step Guide is the latest addition to PAI’s AI and Local News Toolkit, a set of resources designed to help local news organizations responsibly harness AI’s potential.

PAI

11/21/2023

View

AI Adoption for Newsrooms: A 10-Step Guide

AI tools can alert journalists to breaking news, help them analyze and draw insights from large datasets, and even write and produce the news. At the same time, the risks associated with using AI tools are significant and varied. From potentially spreading misinformation to making biased statements, the cost — both literally and figuratively — of misusing AI in journalism can be high. Partnership on AI (PAI), as part of the Knight Foundation’s AI and Local News Initiative, has been working with organizations and individuals from the technology and news industries, civil society, and academia to explore how journalists can ethically adopt AI. AI Adoption for Newsrooms: A 10-Step Guide is the latest addition to PAI’s AI and Local News Toolkit, a set of resources designed to help local news organizations responsibly harness AI’s potential.

Share this

Share in your social media

Optimizing the News Tech Stack: A Holistic Framework for Technology Decisions in News Media Organizations
Recommended on the NPA Slack
NPA Original Content

In this guide, you will find a framework that aims to guide small to medium organizations on how to make technology decisions strategically and better comprehend the impact of technology within their news organizations. This framework encourages holistic decision-making, as it is essential to understand your organization's unique needs, goals, and mission. By doing so, you're poised to make informed trade-offs and embrace technology that genuinely aligns with your growth ambitions.

Feli Carrique

09/19/2023

View

Optimizing the News Tech Stack: A Holistic Framework for Technology Decisions in News Media Organizations
NPA Original Content
Recommended on the NPA Slack

In this guide, you will find a framework that aims to guide small to medium organizations on how to make technology decisions strategically and better comprehend the impact of technology within their news organizations. This framework encourages holistic decision-making, as it is essential to understand your organization's unique needs, goals, and mission. By doing so, you're poised to make informed trade-offs and embrace technology that genuinely aligns with your growth ambitions.

Share this

Share in your social media

Meedan: Fighting misinformation through a Theory of Change
NPA Original Content

Meedan is a tech nonprofit that builds software with a mission to fight online misinformation and build a ‘more equitable’ internet. Although it has enjoyed national and international recognition for over 15 years, Meedan has been doubly challenged: as a growing nonprofit operating adjacent to news media and technology companies and amid a constantly changing climate for misinformation, grassroots journalism, and media funding. This case study explores how Meedan handles challenges related to its unique position in the market — as neither a media company nor a platform — but as a nonprofit that uses a “Theory of Change” approach to underpin its software solutions, integrate its programs, and better serve audiences.

John Mills

08/04/2023

View

Meedan: Fighting misinformation through a Theory of Change
NPA Original Content

Meedan is a tech nonprofit that builds software with a mission to fight online misinformation and build a ‘more equitable’ internet. Although it has enjoyed national and international recognition for over 15 years, Meedan has been doubly challenged: as a growing nonprofit operating adjacent to news media and technology companies and amid a constantly changing climate for misinformation, grassroots journalism, and media funding. This case study explores how Meedan handles challenges related to its unique position in the market — as neither a media company nor a platform — but as a nonprofit that uses a “Theory of Change” approach to underpin its software solutions, integrate its programs, and better serve audiences.

Share this

Share in your social media

Texas Tribune and the Analytics Hub
NPA Original Content

Since its launch in 2009, The Texas Tribune has emphasized data in reporting. The nonprofit news site’s inventive use of charts, graphs, and maps in stories, and its searchable databases of public information, are considered pioneering in data journalism. This case study examines how the Tribune’s organizational structure and culture drove the outlet to develop and implement a centralized data warehouse system, named the Analytics Hub, which compiles user information across the Tribune’s product portfolio. We will look at the challenges throughout the process as well.

Cindy Royal

08/04/2023

View

Texas Tribune and the Analytics Hub
NPA Original Content

Since its launch in 2009, The Texas Tribune has emphasized data in reporting. The nonprofit news site’s inventive use of charts, graphs, and maps in stories, and its searchable databases of public information, are considered pioneering in data journalism. This case study examines how the Tribune’s organizational structure and culture drove the outlet to develop and implement a centralized data warehouse system, named the Analytics Hub, which compiles user information across the Tribune’s product portfolio. We will look at the challenges throughout the process as well.

Share this

Share in your social media

How Documented incorporated audience needs into product research
NPA Original Content

The Documented team was doing stellar work with the mission of breaking the cycle of extractive reporting on immigration, but they knew they wouldn’t be effective if their target audience wasn’t reading their work. This case study explores how Documented approached user research to understand the needs of its audience and ensure that their mission-critical work was designed to serve New York City immigrants, not just report about them.

Ankita Mukhopadhyay

08/04/2023

View

How Documented incorporated audience needs into product research
NPA Original Content

The Documented team was doing stellar work with the mission of breaking the cycle of extractive reporting on immigration, but they knew they wouldn’t be effective if their target audience wasn’t reading their work. This case study explores how Documented approached user research to understand the needs of its audience and ensure that their mission-critical work was designed to serve New York City immigrants, not just report about them.

Share this

Share in your social media

View more resources in the library

Learning Paths

View more
1 - What is news product thinking?

Product management emerged in tech companies to put the audience — or the customer — at the center of decision making. In news organizations there are different kinds of end users: audience segments, advertisers, partners or even coworkers that use a tool or software we are developing. Newsrooms must connect their audience's needs to their editorial mission and develop a sustainable business strategy, while maintaining journalistic ethical standards. Product thinkers create a bridge so that revenue and editorial teams can align their interests. This learning path will help you to better understand what news product thinking is, and how you can get started.

1 - What is news product thinking?

Product management emerged in tech companies to put the audience — or the customer — at the center of decision making. In news organizations there are different kinds of end users: audience segments, advertisers, partners or even coworkers that use a tool or software we are developing. Newsrooms must connect their audience's needs to their editorial mission and develop a sustainable business strategy, while maintaining journalistic ethical standards. Product thinkers create a bridge so that revenue and editorial teams can align their interests. This learning path will help you to better understand what news product thinking is, and how you can get started.

Share this

Share in your social media

2 - How to lead effective news product teams

Leading teams is always a challenge. It's hard to get everyone on the same page with the same priorities. It’s harder still to get aligned on the vision of the product you're trying to build. This becomes even more important as we deal with decentralized, multidisciplinary teams and diverse stakeholders in our ever-changing industry. The resources gathered here will help you learn how to become a more effective leader in the news product ecosystem.

2 - How to lead effective news product teams

Leading teams is always a challenge. It's hard to get everyone on the same page with the same priorities. It’s harder still to get aligned on the vision of the product you're trying to build. This becomes even more important as we deal with decentralized, multidisciplinary teams and diverse stakeholders in our ever-changing industry. The resources gathered here will help you learn how to become a more effective leader in the news product ecosystem.

Share this

Share in your social media

3 - How to conduct audience or user research for news products

Understanding the end user is not only an important pillar of inclusive and ethical news products, it can also be good for business too. However, there’s an overwhelming number of methods, metrics, and frameworks for product management, not all of which are relevant to your project. How can you better understand your users in order to build valuable news products? The learning resources gathered in this path will help with that.

3 - How to conduct audience or user research for news products

Understanding the end user is not only an important pillar of inclusive and ethical news products, it can also be good for business too. However, there’s an overwhelming number of methods, metrics, and frameworks for product management, not all of which are relevant to your project. How can you better understand your users in order to build valuable news products? The learning resources gathered in this path will help with that.

Share this

Share in your social media